[Advaita-l] Taittiriya Upanishad question

[Venkata sriram P]

Namaste,
 
//
 
They never did bad things like Kashyapa. Why
don't you look at them? Why are you looking at Kashyapa only? That
also he did  once only. Not many times
 
//
 
Why do you think that Kashyapa has done bad thing.  Don’t you think
that he had “foreseen” the events to come and paved the way for the 
avataras of Vishnu (Varaha & Nrisimha) to descend For the benefit of 
humanity, at large.
 
BTW, who are we to do dharma-adharma vichakShaNa of Kashyapa Prajapati.
 
Mahamahopadhyaya Bellamkonda Ramaraya Kavih wrote a 
Gloss on Purushartha Nirnaya and discusses the aspects of
Dharma, artha & kama.  
 
Now, why Kashyapa succumbed to the pressure of
Diti is the dharma charcha here.  
 
As regards the kAma-vAncha, there are certain 
sUkShmAs to be understood.  Our ancient 
rishis knew this rahasya and hence they acted
accordingly keeping in view of these implications.
 
kAmavAncha, if not properly regulated towards
sva-patni / bhartA, may lead to several perversions
like adultery.  The suppressed desires may lead to
harmonic distortions which may take the toll of health. 
 
Hence, it was the duty of Kashyapa Prajapati to
yield to his wife at sandhyakAla.  
 
The message to the humanity is don’t do such
acts at the sandhyAkAla.  Whereas, for the 
prajApati, it was his duty to perform so keeping
in view of the above repercussions.  
 
Sastra says that sva-patni samparka is equivalent to 
observance of brahmacharya. 
 
//
svadAramAtrasaMtuShTiH brahmacharyasamA smritA
paradArAbhigamanamAyurvidyAdinAshakrit
//
 
Now, there is one more aspect that needs to be 
Discussed here is that even prajapatis, rishis,
Munis, devatas also commit mistakes like we
Ordinary mortals.  
 
But yes, there is a lot of difference between
We humans and the above noble souls. 
 
Though they commit mistakes, they have
The “capacity & capability” to perform
Tapas and undergo the prAyaschitta kANDa.
With the observance of tapas & prayaschitta,
Their doshas are washed off.  
 
Manu Smriti says:
 
yaddustaraM yaddurApaM yaddurgaM yacchadduskaraM
tatsarvaM tapasAsAdhyaM tapO hi duratikramaM
 
So, though our ancient rishis did commit mistakes 
like Vishvamitra etc., they performed the tapas
later with doubled stamina and washed off their
sins.  
 
We ordinary mortals, neither possess the tapObala
nor have the capacity to perform prAyaschitta kANDAs.
 
Hence, the vidhi & nishedhAs in veda to human beings only.
 
 
///
He will not do any Adharmic act. In case he does it we should not
follow. Like Krishna had fun with Gopees. Rama had only one wife. We
can follow Rama to have fun with legal wife only. We must not follow
Krishna and search for fun with some cowherd girls. We take only
Dharmic examples.
 
//
 
 
The 5 chapters in Bhagavata Purana that describe the Rasalila
is called “Rasa Panchadhyayi”.  
 
Traditional Acharyas do the regular parayana of “Rasa Panchadhyayi”
To get rid off the kAma-vAsanAs.  
 
Sridhara Swami who wrote a gloss on Bhagavata Purana advices us to 
recite these 5 chapters daily to ward off “hrid-rOga” ie., kAma-vAncha
& kAma vAsanAs.
 
Hence, the statements that “Krishna had fun with gopis” shows 
the lack of understanding the sAstra properly and moreover
the statements like this is blasphemous against the Gitacharya.  
 
The study of Vedanta without saguna bhakti leads to the above
Statements.  
 
No more to this thread.
 
Regs,
Sriram